Kyrgyzstan in 2009

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In 2009 the July 23 presidential election dominated the Kyrgyz political scene. Incumbent Pres. Kurmanbek Bakiyev won an overwhelming majority (official figures awarded him 86% of the vote) in spite of opposition efforts to unseat him by rallying behind a single candidate, Almazbek Atambayev. Bakiyev’s victory was followed by opposition charges of massive electoral fraud, including claims that Atambayev had actually received 60% of the vote. Unsanctioned protests and marches resulted in numerous arrests. At his inauguration Bakiyev appealed for tolerance and civil accord and promised broad political reform, starting with public administration. The reform process included the appointment of a new cabinet of ministers and prime minister in late October and the dismissal of a number of presidential advisers.

After a February 3 meeting with Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev, Bakiyev announced that the agreement that permitted U.S. and NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan to use Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airfield would be terminated. At the same time, Bakiyev received a promise of $2 billion in financial assistance from Russia, primarily to finance construction of the Kambarata hydropower station (a project strongly opposed by neighbouring Uzbekistan). The Kyrgyz parliament voted to end U.S. and NATO use of the base, but the promised Russian aid was slow to materialize. On June 22 an agreement was signed under which the U.S. would continue to use Manas as a transit shipment centre for nonmilitary deliveries to forces in Afghanistan. The Russian Foreign Ministry commented that such an agreement was Kyrgyzstan’s sovereign right. Negotiations between Kyrgyzstan and Russia over the basing of a Russian battalion in southern Kyrgyzstan remained inconclusive.

Although Kyrgyzstan was affected by the global financial crisis, it was one of the few countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States to maintain a positive growth rate in 2009. In September, however, a mission from the IMF warned that the country was likely to face greater difficulties in 2010 because the Kyrgyz government was countering the effects of the crisis by devoting essential funds to supporting the national budget. Prime Minister Igor Chudinov noted in March that the country’s capital inflow was down, along with the import of goods and the level of demand. As a result of the worldwide financial crisis, Kyrgyzstan faced difficulties with both energy and food security. With no mortgage lending system, however, the main impact of the crisis on the Kyrgyz economy was generated by the effects of the crisis on neighbouring countries, particularly Kyrgyzstan’s main trading partners, Kazakhstan and Russia.

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